1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to the improvement of sport performance, and more particularly to computerized systems for diagnosing sport performance problems.
2. Description of Related Art
In the general field of sport performance, there is a variety of information directed to improving one's performance while participating in a sport. Books, brochures, videos, and Web sites contain sport performance information relating to proper posture, throwing or kicking motion, proper grip, and the like which are all elements of sport performance. While this information may provide insight into a “proper” technique used in a particular sport, none of these materials are directed to specific individuals having specific needs or specific physical limitations. For example, while the “proper” swing for a professional baseball player can be to swing a bat with a particular order and combination of feet, hips, head, wrist, arm, and shoulder movement, such a swing can be considered improper for a child learning how to hit a baseball with a bat.
Consequently, athletes often turn to sport instruction literature and other sources for information regarding the improvement of sport performance. Nevertheless, sport performance improvement information contained in any one particular source must be searched by a user in order to find relevant portions. While many sources containing information for improving one's performance may have an organizational structure such as an index or a table of contents to direct users to relevant information, the user must still search through the source to find relevant information. Although some users may find relevant information by using an index or a table of contents, other individuals may not be able to find the relevant information because that user may not know what key words to look for in an index or a table of contents.
Although some users will be able to use the organizational structure of an information source to find information regarding a particular subject relating to sport performance, a user still must sort through the information and find the information relevant to that particular user. The user must be able to separate relevant information from information that may not be applicable to that particular user. For a user without experience or knowledge in an area of sport performance, this can be a daunting task.
Instead of relying upon information sources for improving sport performance, some users engage the advice of a personal trainer. A personal trainer can offer the advantages of tailoring information to a specific user and individualizing instruction for a user. The personal trainer can consider many factors gained through first hand observation including age, physical fitness, and current technique to evaluate the sport performance of a user. By combining information regarding the user and information relating to sport improvement that is known by the personal trainer, the personal trainer can analyze the sport performance of a user and recommend certain adjustments or practice routines for improvement. If the personal trainer is knowledgeable in a particular area of concern to the user and the personal trainer makes accurate assessments while observing the user, the personal trainer can provide valuable information and instructions to help the user improve sport performance.
Still, while a personal trainer can provide individualized attention and instruction, there are limits and disadvantages to using a personal trainer for improving sport performance. One such notable limitation can include the limited amount of time during which a personal trainer can spend with a particular student. Another important limitation can include the reality that a personal trainer can only give attention to one student, or a limited group of students, at one time.
Recognizing the inherent deficiencies of personalized training, some have proposed alternatives. For instance, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. U.S. 2001/0034730 A1 to Bhandari et al. (“Bhandari”) discloses an automated training system and method for providing personalized instruction or advice to a plurality of users. To that end, Bhandari utilizes data mining techniques to find hidden patterns in sport performance data. Based upon those hidden patterns a rule-based advice sub-module can generate advice depending on how a sport performance situation has been characterized. Notably, in Bhandari, the hidden patterns can be prioritized so that the advice sub-module can generate a single set of advice at one time.
It will be recognized by one skilled in the art that while the teachings of Bhandari address some of the deficiencies of the state of the art recited herein, Bhandari, too, suffers from many of those deficiencies. Specifically, while Bhandari collects user specific attributes, the rule sets that are used to mine data for hidden patterns are generated from experts describing common and uncommon errors made by users and standard techniques to avoid these errors. Therefore, because the rule sets are not generated with a respect to individual attributes of a user, Bhandari stops short of offering automated personalized instruction. Specifically, these rule sets have the same limitations found in a general book, with the limitation being that the rule sets (or the information in a book) only account for standard errors and techniques, not individualized characteristics such as height, weight, and any disabilities. More importantly, the rules are updated overtime, allowing the same faulty analysis to occur until the rules are changed.
The teachings of Bhandari remain deficient in as much as it can be difficult for a user to characterize specific elements of sport performance. Specifically, in some instances, a user may not be able to use a word description to properly describe an element of sport performance. Finally, although Bhandari stores previously given advice in an advice history, this advice history can be used only to determine situations where the same advice was given previously and not to affect the analysis in generating subsequent advice. Thus, Bhandari fails to eliminate the deficiencies of the prior art. Consequently, while the system in Bhandari attempts to reduce the reliance on a personal trainer, limiting the use of the advice history results in a user still having to rely upon a personal trainer.